Neh 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10
1 Cor 12:12-30 or 12:12-14, 27
Lk 1:1-4; 4:14-21
Video with homily suggestions
The Gospel reading today fits perfectly with the call for protection of children living in the womb. Such advocacy is at the heart of the Gospel and of Jesus’ mission. “He has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captive…to let the oppressed go free.”
Nobody is more oppressed in our world today than the unborn child. The Spirit of the Lord, who is our Advocate in heaven, fills us and makes us advocates for these lives. And that advocacy takes so many numerous forms in the wide variety of activities in the pro-life movement. Just as the second reading reminds us of the diversity of the one Body of Christ, so is that diversity manifested in the pro-life movement which, driven by the same Spirit who is “Father of the poor,” seeks the same ultimate goal.
We need to remind ourselves of the extent of this tragedy, and of the fact that it is “our business” to intervene for the victims of abortion, no less than it is our business to help the victims of crime, war, drugs, poverty, AIDS, and any other type of violence.
Even abortion supporters admit that it is an act of violence. Ron Fitzsimmons, for example, who served as Executive Director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers was quoted in the New York Times decades ago, saying, "...The abortion-rights folks know it, the anti-abortion folks know it, and so probably, does everyone else. One of the facts of abortion is that women enter abortion clinics to kill their fetuses. It is a form of killing ...you're ending a life."
In the name and by the power of the God who has saved us, let us strive to save our brothers and sisters in need, starting with those in the womb.